More placenta previa talk

I've been a researching fool ever since I got the diagnosis, and just wanted to share a little bit of that with you. I have been told so many differing statistics about the resolution of these things that I was going crazy! I heard from one OB that 95% resolve, then another said 85% resolve, then I read articles online that 90% resolve. Anyway, I was interested in finding information that was specific to complete previas (what I have) and finally found an article that had statistics for each. Here's the link http://www.aafp.org/afp/20070415/1199.html. Anyway, it says that previas are less likely to move in women who have had a previous C-section (one point in my favor!), because it seems that placentas like to adhere to scar tissue. Of course I worry about having scar tissue from my D&C but I know that would definitely not be as significant as C-section scarring.

So, this article says that for complete previas with no previous c/s that are diagnosed at 15-19 weeks (mine was diagnosed at 20), that 20% will persist to delivery and if it's still there at 24-27 weeks 56% will persist. It all depends on the position of the placenta though, i.e., how far the overlap is, and I don't have that information yet. I know my Peri will look at it in greater detail and take measurements and all that good stuff. I've also found a message board on Babycenter (they have message boards for everything!) for placental problems and have found many stories of women whose placentas eventually moved and also of women who had no bleeding at all though it seems that majority whose persisted did have at least one bleeding episode.

One of my online friends had a complete previa that persisted to delivery and she had a bleeding episode at 33 weeks and spent 3 days in the hospital and then went home on bedrest for the rest of her pregnancy until they delivered her baby girl by uneventful c/s at 36 weeks. I think that her experience is pretty typical. I also find it pretty crazy that we would both have this happen because it's relatively uncommon! I must say that at the time that she was going through it, I really didn't understand just how serious it can be but I have definitely been educated! They say that you are the highest risk for bleeding at 28 weeks and beyond due to cervical changes, dilation and contractions. The goal is to schedule your c/s before labor begins, so it's almost always going to be scheduled before 40 weeks, most often around 37 weeks.

There are lots of other crazy complications that could happen with previas that I won't go into here, but here's a good general article about it - http://www.babycenter.com/0_placenta-previa_830.bc?Ad=com.bc.common.AdInfo%4053b252a

On a much lighter note, we went to Vegas for Labor Day weekend and had a GREAT time! We spent a lot of time relaxing out by the pool, saw a show, ate some great meals and Brad did some gambling and ended up coming out WAY ahead which is very exciting! More money to cover some of those big baby gear expenses, woohoo!